Both candidates seeking the District 5 seat on the county Board of Supervisors in the June 5 election were invited to a meeting in Novato Wednesday night to discuss support for a new approach to addressing homelessness and protections for renters, but only incumbent Supervisor Judy Arnold attended.

“The other candidate, Toni Shroyer, was invited and agreed to come but changed her mind after she met with us to discuss the rules, the format and questions for tonight,” said Ralph Purdy, a Novato resident who presided over the meeting.

The event, which was held at the Novato United Methodist Church, where Shroyer is a member of the congregation, was sponsored by the Marin Organizing Committee (MOC).

MOC consists of 20 dues-paying congregations, nonprofits and volunteer organizations representing over 15,000 families in Marin. MOC is best known for creating the Rotating Emergency Shelter Team (REST), which helped to run Marin’s winter shelter program for the homeless.

Shroyer, a Novato real estate agent, participated in forums sponsored by the Marin League of Women Voters and the Marin Independent Journal, but rejected invitations from the Novato Chamber of Commerce, the Marin Women’s Political Action Committee and the Marin Democratic Party.

MOC organizers said that when they met with Shroyer on Friday she mentioned she would like to discuss conditions at Golden Gate Village, a public housing project in Marin City, which she has made an issue in her campaign, but was told that would not be possible.

MOC is nonpartisan and does not endorse political candidates. Laura Giacomini, a member of Congregation Kol Shofar, explained the rules of engagement at the outset of Wednesday night’s meeting; had Shroyer attended there would have been no opportunity for either candidate to ask the other questions.

Advertisement

Nevertheless, Shroyer said, “When you have two candidates together and you’re asking each one of them questions, it is a debate-like forum.”

Shelter program

The MOC meeting got underway with MOC members explaining that the organization had reluctantly decided to end the REST winter shelter program in order to make room for a better shelter model that follows the best practices of “housing first.”

“We have realized for some time that it was just a lifeboat,” said Purdy, a member of the First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael. “We kept people fed and out of the rain and cold but we did not end homelessness.”

The “housing first” approach to homelessness calls for housing individuals with the most serious mental and physical challenges first and not placing any conditions, such as sobriety, on those being housed.

Sandra Cuevas, a St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin employee, said that since Marin County began implementing a “housing first” approach in October, 36 of Marin’s chronically homeless population have been housed. The new approach also involves “coordinated entry” — more sharing of information about clients by service providers.

Cuevas said St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin and Homeward Bound of Marin, which operates all of Marin’s permanent homeless shelters, have agreed to collaborate to convert Marin’s entire shelter system to a “housing first” model. Cuevas said, however, that an investment of community funds will be needed.

Housing first

Arnold was asked if she supports implementing a housing first approach throughout Marin’s homeless services system of care and whether she would “work with MOC to secure adequate county funding for a housing focused shelter.”

“I have supported ‘housing first’ and continue to do so,” Arnold said. “Yes, I’m happy to work with MOC to continue this until we’ve finally conquered homelessness.”

Quizzed Thursday by the Independent Journal on whether she supports the “housing first” model, Shroyer wrote in an email, “I need to learn more about their approach but I support safe and affordable housing (with Best Practices) in Marin which is not happening at Golden Gate Village.”

Shroyer added that she supports Homeward Bound and “would obtain their counsel for solutions and ideas for the homeless challenge.”

Renter protections

The second half of Wednesday’s meeting focused on how to improve living conditions and protections for Marin’s renters, which according to a 2016 American Community Survey number over 90,000.

“In Marin, renters are at the mercy of landlords,” said Meredith Parnell, a member of Congregation Rodef Sholom who heads MOC’s renter protection team. “Landlords can raise rents as high as they want and as many times as they want. You can be evicted with as little as 30 days notice for no reason, and there is no place in the county or in any city to call for help to learn what your rights and responsibilities are.”

Parnell said the Board of Supervisors has taken some steps in the right direction. It has funded a landlord incentive program to entice more landlords into renting to people with Section 8 housing vouchers; it has passed an ordinance prohibiting landlords from discriminating against people using Section 8 housing vouchers and other third-party housing subsidies; and it has passed an ordinance requiring landlords to enter into mediation with their tenants if they increase rents more than 5 percent within a 12-month period.

The mandatory mediation ordinance, however, is non-binding and doesn’t prevent landlords from retaliating by raising rents or evicting tenants, Parnell said.

And as for the Section 8 incentive program, Parnell notes that the waiting list for Section 8 vouchers has been closed for almost 10 years.

“We need a just cause eviction ordinance too to help protect renters from retaliation,” Parnell said.

Just-cause eviction

Such an ordinance would not prevent a landlord from terminating a lease for valid reasons such as owner move-in, nonpayment of rent, causing a nuisance, illegal activity or any other violation of a lease agreement. It also would not prevent a landlord from raising the rent.

Arnold was asked if she would work with MOC to get a just cause ordinance passed at the county level.

Arnold equivocated.

“Yes, I will work with MOC,” she began. Then she added, “I want to give this landlord incentive program a little whole time to see. I understand the need for the just cause but let’s see how the landlords do.”

Asked about her position on mandatory mediation and just-cause eviction on Thursday by the IJ, Shroyer said, “What we need to factor into the equation is the mom-and-pop landlords that are doing the right thing. They are providing safe and habitable housing at below-market rates.

“What needs to be part of the conversation is the excessive taxes and fees that are bestowed on homeowners,” she said, “that often times get passed to the tenant therefore furthering a high rent.”